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When Eorl was only 16 years old, his father was killed while trying to tame Felaróf, making Eorl Lord of the Éothéod at that young age. Young Eorl swore to avenge his father and managed to tame him. He "doomed" the horse to carry him for the rest of their lives, and the horse seemingly accepted this burden.[1]

Eorl is an Old English word that can be roughly translated as "one of the nobility, earl". It was the highest of the ranks in North Germanic culture, not introduced to Britain until the late 9th century. The title was known as jarl in Old Norse,[4] and because of that, the Þórsteinn Thorarensen used this throughout his Icelandic translation of The Lord of the Rings, along with Hjálmur, Þengill, Þjódan and Jómar.[5]